Sundown
by Shotzette
Summary: Any day of any week.


p class="MsoNormal""emBy that time, my lungs were bursting for air/em!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Laverne looked up from her television program when she heard a knock at the style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal""Always in the middle of Sea Hunt," she grumbled. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Come in!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"An elderly man slowly entered her style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe gave her a shy style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Hi," he style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"I, uh, I'm looking for Mrs. Babbish."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Laverne style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Mrs. B. lives two floors style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanApartment 3D, you can't miss it."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal""I know", he style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"There, uh, was a sign on the door saying that she was going to be out for a while and to drop off any packages in this apartment."span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe then held out the large daisy bouquet that he'd hidden behind his back./p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Laverne style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanDaisies were her favorite flowers after style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Those are beautiful," she said, as she took the bouquet and walked to the kitchen to find a style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanDamnit, she thought as she rifled through the sparse cabinet, where was the pretty vase that she got when she filled her tank up with ethyl last weekend?span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe could never find anything these days…/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"The man cleared his throat as he looked around and nervously shifted his weight from foot to style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Uh, would you mind if I hung out here for a little while?span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanIt's awfully cold outside."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Laverne looked out the window at the colorful floral style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanSpring flowers were everywhere; how cold could it be?span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanJudging by the size of the blooms, Shirley must have planted them months style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe took a longer look at the old man. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe was tall and gaunt, with thinning hair and a wrinkled face that had certainly laughed a lot over the style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHis battered overcoat had definitely seen better style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanPity touched her style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanBesides, Sea Hunt was nearly over…span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Sure," she said, forcing a smile as she turned off the TV, "Have a seat"./p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"The man looked surprised and smiled before slowly sitting on the edge of her couch./p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Laverne sat there awkwardly, wishing for once that Shirley was there with her awkward and forced small style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAs annoying as her roommate could be, the dead silence between her and the old man sitting awkwardly on her sofa was style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"So, how do you know Mrs. Babish?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal""I'm her ex-husband," he said quickly./p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal""Amy's father?"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanLaverne looked at her guest more closely. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThis guy looked like he'd seen some hard times, but nothing about him screamed angry alcoholic./p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"A shadow clouded the man's style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"No," he replied. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"One of the other style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanI'm…span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanSam."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal""Hi Sam, I'm style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanIt's nice to meet style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanSo…span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanDo you always bring your ex-wives flowers?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Sam style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span" style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanJust the one. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanI've only been married once."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal""Mrs. Babish doesn't talk much about her ex-husbands except of course, to let us know that there were five of them."span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Sam looked at her awkwardly and began to pick bits of invisible lint off of his style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"A thought occurred to Laverne and she looked away in style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Uh, look, I may be talking out of turn here, but you are sitting in my apartment so, I gotta ask…span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanYou're not trying to woo Mrs. Babish back, are you?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Sam blinked and managed to look even more uncomfortable than he had moments style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span" style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanI was just passing through town and I wanted to say hello to her."span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe cleared this throat gruffly before continuing, "I know that she's moved on with her life and what we had is gone now."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Laverne nodded, all the while praying that Shirley, or anyone—at this point she'd welcome a visit from Big Rosie Greenbaum—would walk through the door and take the burden of being a social hostess off her style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"I mean, you seem like a real swell guy, Sam, but she and my Pop are kind of an item style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThey've been seeing each other for over a year."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Sam nodded, before quickly turning style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"I style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanLike I said, I just wanted to drop in and say hi to style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanYou know: see how she's doing, let her know I'm still there for her…"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe coughed and then stood up style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"She's probably going to be out for a long style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanI should take my leavings and let you get back to Sea Hunt."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Laverne style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe had been at the other end of the room when she turned off her TV. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"How did you know I was watching Sea Hunt?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"He style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Uh, it's always on at this time, isn't it?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Laverne style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Yeah, you're style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanCan't get enough of Lloyd Bridges…" she said with a grin./p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Sam style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Who can?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Laverne gestured to the daisies on the kitchen style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"I can take these up to Mrs. Babish's when she gets home."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal""Why don't you keep them?span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanI mean, they made you style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAnd you look real pretty when you smile" he added as his sad eyes momentarily twinkled./p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Laverne had a smart mouthed retort at the ready, but something about Sam's fragile demeanor made her keep it to style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Thank you."span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal""You have a nice day, Laverne."span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe turned and walked out the door./p  
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p class="MsoNormal"Lenny Kosnowski took several deep breaths and leaned against the closed door as he fought back the style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanemIt never gets easier…/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"A young African-American woman in scrubs was at his side in a style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Are you all right Mr. K?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Lenny shook his style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"I thought I'd be used to it by now."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Jeanine nodded. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"I style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe's doing a little worse since Mrs. M. isn't visiting her style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe gets agitated more style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHer anxiety is worse so we've increased her Zoloft dosage a little."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Lenny exhaled style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"She and Shirl were best friends since first style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanIt seemed so wrong to go to Shirley's funeral without her…"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Jeanine style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"I know, but like Dr. Patel said, it would have done more harm than style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe wouldn't have understood what was going on, or—"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal""Or recognized anyone anyhow," Lenny style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"It ain't like any of us look like we did fifty years ago."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal""No, she wouldn't," Jeanine said a she shook her style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"She did seem to like the daisies you bought her today."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Lenny style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"I wish I could still give her roses…"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Jeanine nodded sympathetically. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"I'm style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanBut the thorns make it too dangerous for her. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThanks for understanding and bringing in that plastic vase the other style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanWe just can't allow the residents to have anything that they could misuse and hurt themselves."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal""She wasn't always this way, y'know!"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe anger that Lenny had held in for far too long bubbled over as he stammered over his style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"She used to be a bottle capper at the old Shotz Brewery, right there on the conveyor belt and only got cut up once!span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe was the in Army and jumped out of a plane once, and that's more than I ever did when I served!span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe- "/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal""Mr. Kosnowski, I'm sorry. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanI didn't mean…"/p  
p class="MsoNormal"He took a deep, shuddering breath as he tried to calm style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe last thing Laverne needed was him losing the fight with his high blood pressure and stroking style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"S'okay, not your style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanIt's just all of this…" he gestured around the artificial "small town" façade the Pfister Assisted Living Home had created for the fifth-floor occupants, "Laverne was always the strong one; the strongest out of all of style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanI just never thought that I'd outlive her, and," he finished with a whisper, "I sort of have."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal""Mr. Kos—" Jeanine began./p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Lenny shook his style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"No, I think I'm just going to go back style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanIt's been a long day."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal""Would you like Eric to walk back with you?span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe'll be back from his break in a few minutes."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Lenny opened his mouth to say that he was perfectly capable of walking to the independent living end of the building until he caught a glimpse of his reflection in one of the few mirrors in the public area of the Memory style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Yeah," he said with a shake in his voice, "I'll wait for Eric".span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe then sat in one of the straight-backed chairs by the door and stared at the ticking clock./p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p 


End file.
